This is a children's book with a set of tarot cards included! The artwork is really good and really there is nothing in these cards that an adult couldn't use. The cards (there are 22 of them, major arcana only) come tucked in a pocket inside the back cover of the book, which also includes stories and instructions on several other types of divination appropriate for children.
The cards are slightly smaller than standard. They are printed on flimsy, cheap kind of stock and have little bits around the edges where it looks like they were punched out of a sheet of cardboard that was perforated. I didn't buy the deck new so I don't know if they came like that or if they did have to be punched out. For children's use, this type of card stock is appropriate, it's softer and you have less danger of paper cuts.
The card designs all incorporate animals as the main characters of each card, while still retaining most of the sense of the archetypal meaning of the card. For obvious reasons (this is, after all, a children's deck) the Death card and the Devil card have been replaced with softer imagery that won't be scary. Death is a Phoenix and the Devil is a Chameleon.
There are also sections in the book about astrology, numerology, palm reading, letter games, candle drip divination, and so on. Many of these will sound familiar as the reader remembers his or her childhood. The art style will be familiar to fans of the Halloween Tarot and the Tarot For Cats, also by Kipling West.
I would highly recommend this deck for anyone who is teaching younger children about the tarot. It can be read by the intermediate reader, and the cards are designed for use by younger hands. Of course it is a cute and enjoyable collectible as well!
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also by Karin Lee and
Kipling West:
The
Halloween Tarot
and by Regen Dennis and
Kipling West:
Tarot
For Cats
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also check out Where Every Day is Halloween
Review Copyright 1998 by Gina M. Pace
